Recording medium, and method and apparatus for reproducing the recording medium

ABSTRACT

In one embodiment, the method includes retrieving management information associated with the audiovisual data. The management information includes link information, an indicator, and reference information. The method further includes identifying whether or not a set of additional data associated with the audiovisual data exists in a stream including at least a portion of the management information using the indicator. The additional data describes the audiovisual data. Also, the indicator includes one of a first indicator value indicating that the set of the additional data associated with the audiovisual data exists in the stream and a second indicator value indicating that the set of the additional data associated with the audiovisual data does not exist in the stream. The audiovisual data and the set of the additional data are retrieved using the link information referencing the set of the additional data and the reference information being assigned to the audiovisual data, and the audiovisual data and the associated additional data are reproduced.

DOMESTIC PRIORITY INFORMATION

This is a continuation application of application Ser. No. 11/723,087,filed Mar. 16, 2007, the entire contents of which are herebyincorporated by reference.

FOREIGN PRIORITY INFORMATION

The present invention claims priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 on KoreanApplication No. 2001-26028, filed May 12, 2001, the entire contents ofwhich are hereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a recording medium on which movingpicture data have been recorded together with script files includingadditional information related with the moving picture data.

The present invention further relates to a method of linking scriptfiles with moving picture data and relates to method and apparatus ofreproducing the moving picture data along with script files thereof.

2. Description of the Related Art

An optical disk such as DVD (Digital Versatile Disk) being able to storedigital data is widely used in these days. A DVD can store not onlyaudio data but also moving picture data of long time. A DVD has tworecording partitions, one for storing digital data stream such as movingpicture data, and the other for storing navigation data which are usedto control reproduction of the stored digital data stream.

Thus, when a DVD having digital data stream thereon is placed into aconventional DVD player, the player reads out thereproduction-controlling data written in the navigation data partitionfirst and stores them in a memory equipped therein. Afterwards, the DVDplayer can select or search for an arbitrary section of moving picturedata using the reproduction-controlling data in the memory and playbackit.

A DVD may include additional information about moving picture datarecorded thereon. Namely, a DVD may include scene descriptive texts andintroduction of characters, etc. besides video and audio data. Suchadditional information may be informed to a viewer who wants moreinformation about moving pictures being presented.

However, how to link such additional information with moving picturedata and how to reproduce it along with moving picture data are not yetdecided.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a recording medium having a datastructure for managing reproduction of moving picture data from therecording medium.

The present invention further relates to a method of reproducingaudiovisual data with additional data.

In one embodiment, the method includes retrieving management informationassociated with the audiovisual data. The management informationincludes link information, an indicator, and reference information. Themethod further includes identifying whether or not a set of additionaldata associated with the audiovisual data exists in a stream includingat least a portion of the management information using the indicator.The additional data describes the audiovisual data. Also, the indicatorincludes one of a first indicator value indicating that the set of theadditional data associated with the audiovisual data exists in thestream and a second indicator value indicating that the set of theadditional data associated with the audiovisual data does not exist inthe stream. The audiovisual data and the set of the additional data areretrieved using the link information referencing the set of theadditional data and the reference information being assigned to theaudiovisual data, and the audiovisual data and the associated additionaldata are reproduced.

The present invention still further relates to an apparatus forreproducing audiovisual data with additional data.

In one embodiment, the apparatus includes a controller configured toretrieve management information associated with the audiovisual data.The management information includes link information, an indicator, andreference information. The controller is further configured to identifywhether or not a set of additional data associated with the audiovisualdata exists in a stream including at least a portion of the managementinformation using the indicator, the additional data being describingthe audiovisual data. The controller is also configured to retrieve theaudiovisual data and the set of the additional data using the linkinformation referencing the set of the additional data and the referenceinformation assigned to the audiovisual data. And, the controller isconfigured to reproduce the audiovisual data and the associatedadditional data. The indicator includes one of a first indicator valueindicating that the set of the additional data associated with theaudiovisual data exists in the stream and a second indicator valueindicating that the set of the additional data associated with theaudiovisual data does not exist in the stream.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a furtherunderstandings of the invention, illustrate the preferred embodiments ofthe invention, and together with the description, serve to explain theprinciples of the present invention.

FIG. 1 schematically shows a recording medium such as a DVD includingscript files containing additional information about moving picturedata;

FIGS. 2 and 3 show structures of Video Manager Information (VMGI) andVideo Title Set Information (VTSI), respectively, recorded in anavigation data zone of the recording medium of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 shows hierarchically-structured digital data stream recorded on arecording medium;

FIG. 5 shows a part of program chain information including 4-byte-longPGC Content field a ‘Script Flag’ is allocated in;

FIG. 6 shows the first embodiment of a method linking script files withmoving picture data according to the present invention;

FIG. 7 shows the second embodiment of a method linking script files withmoving picture data according to the present invention;

FIG. 8 shows the third embodiment of a method linking script files withmoving picture data according to the present invention;

FIG. 9 shows an embodiment of a method specifying that a moving picturedata section has no related additional information;

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of an apparatus reproducing a recordingmedium including script files as well as moving picture data inaccordance with the present invention;

FIG. 11 is a flow chart of an embodiment of a method reproducing arecording medium including script files as well as moving picture datain accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 12 shows an example of screen displaying both a scene by movingpicture data and scene descriptive text by a script file; and

FIG. 13 is a flow chart of another embodiment of a method reproducing arecording medium including script files as well as moving picture datain accordance with the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS

In order that the invention may be fully understood, a exampleembodiments thereof will now be described with reference to theaccompanying drawings.

Embodiments of a method linking additional information with movingpicture data in accordance with the present invention are describedfirst.

FIG. 1 schematically shows a recording medium such as a DVD includingscript files containing additional information about moving picturedata. The DVD of FIG. 1 is composed of three recording partitions, thefirst ‘Data Zone (DZ)’ for storing digital data stream such as movingpicture data, the second ‘Navigation Data Zone (NDZ)’ for storingnavigation data used to control reproduction of the stored digital datastream in the DZ, and the third ‘Script File Zone (SFZ)’ for storingscript files having additional and/or detailed information about movingpicture data.

In the SFZ, at least one link data file, which links script files withcorresponding sections of moving picture data, may be included.

The additional information in the script file may be written in theconventional HTML (Hyper-Text Markup Language) format, and a singlescript file is linked with at least one a predetermined-sized VOBU(Video OBject Unit) which is defined in the general DVD recordingstandard.

In addition, the link data file may be created for each PGCI (ProGramChain Information) which is also defined in the general DVD recordingstandard, and it is composed of link entries where each entry consistsof a script file identifier and an address of VOBUs associated with ascript file.

FIG. 2 shows the structure of Video Manager Information (VMGI) recordedin the NDZ. The VMGI includes Video Manager Menu VOBU Address Map‘VMGM_VOBU_ADMAP’ in which 4-byte-long start addresses of Video ManagerMenu VOBUs ‘VMGM_VOBU_Ads’ are written.

FIG. 3 shows the structure of Video Title Set Information (VTSI)recorded in the NDZ. The VTSI includes Video Title Set Video Object UnitAddress Map ‘VTS_VOBU ADMAP’ in which 4-byte-long start addresses ofVideo Title Set VOBUs ‘VTS_VOBU_Ads’ are written.

FIG. 4 shows hierarchically-structured digital data stream recorded on aDVD. According to the hierarchical structure depicted in FIG. 4, singlePGCI which has been written in the PGCI table included in the VMGIand/or VISI is associated with at least one VOB (Video OBject), calledprogram section or program chain, where a single VOB is composed of manyVOBUs containing actual data.

In the PGCI, 4-byte-long PGC Content field is included as shown in FIG.5. The PGC Content field consists of the following sub-fields:8-bit-long ‘Number of Cells’, 7-bit-long ‘Number of Programs’, 1-bit‘Script Flag’, and 16-bit-long ‘Reserved’.

The 1-bit ‘Script Flag’ indicates whether or not script files are linkedwith an associated program chain. If the ‘Script Flag’ is set it meansthat there are linked script files, and if reset it means that there arenot.

If there are linked script files, information for linking each scriptfile with a corresponding section of moving picture data belonging to aprogram chain is stored in a link data file.

FIG. 6 shows an example of the structure of a link data file. There maybe several link data files, as shown in FIG. 6, to match one file withone program chain when a plurality of program chains exist on a DVD.Therefore, a link data file may have a filename indicative of anassociated PGCI to distinguish what link data file is associated withwhat PGCI. For example, the first link data file associated with thePGCI ‘PGCI #1’ of the first program section is named to‘PGC.sub.--1.lk’, and, in the same manner, the second link data fileassociated with the PGCI ‘PGCI #2’ of the second program section isnamed to ‘PGC.sub.--2.lk’ where the extension ‘lk’ implies link datafile.

In the example of a link data file depicted in FIG. 6, each link entrywritten in the link data file consists of an address of a VOBU withwhich contents of a linked script file are to be presented and arecording address of the linked script file. For example, if it issupposed that an address of a VOBU with which contents of a linkedscript file are to be presented is ‘10000’ and a recording address ofthe linked script file is ‘001001h’, a corresponding link entry has dataof ‘10000/001001h’ where the symbol ‘/’ is a delimiter. Other symbolsuch as a space may be used instead of ‘/’.

FIG. 7 shows another example of the structure of a link data file. Inthe example of FIG. 7, each link data file is associated with acorresponding program chain through a unique filename the same as theabove example. Namely, a link data file is named to ‘PGC.sub.--1.lk’ forthe first PGCI, and to ‘PGC.sub.--2.lk’ for the second PGCI. Each linkentry consists of an address of a VOBU with which contents of a linkedscript file are to be presented and a filename of the linked scriptfile. For example, if it is supposed that an address of a VOBU withwhich contents of a linked script file are to be presented is ‘10000’and a filename of the linked script file is ‘xxxx0.sc’, a correspondinglink entry has data of ‘10000/xxxx0.sc’ where the symbol ‘/’ is adelimiter.

When a DVD including the above-explained script files and at least onelink data file thereon is placed into a DVD player and a program chainto reproduce is selected at the same time from a user, the DVD playerchecks the 1-bit ‘Script Flag’ written in the PGC Content field‘PGC_CNT’ in PGCI of the selected program chain, first. If the ‘ScriptFlag’ is 1, the DVD player considers that script files associated withthe selected program chain have been written in the SFZ, reads a datalink file associated with the selected program chain from the SFZ, andstores the read data link file in a memory. In these successiveoperations, all script files in the SFZ may be read out and then storedin the memory along with the link data file.

Afterwards, the selected program chain is reproduced. If script displaymode is activated, the DVD player examines all link entries in the linkdata file, stored in the memory, associated with the program chain beingpresented in order to search for an address which is equal to a startaddress of a VOBU being reproduced. If the same address is found in thelink entries, the DVD player obtains a recording address or a filenameof a script file combined with the found address through a delimiter‘/’, and decodes data contained in the identified script file by theobtained recording address or filename while reading the script filefrom the memory or the DVD. Through these operations, a viewer is ableto view additional information related with the presented movingpictures at the same time while watching the moving pictures.

In the above embodiment, an additional link data file is necessary tolink script files with moving picture data. However, script files can belinked directly with moving picture data without the above-explainedlink data file.

FIG. 8 is another embodiment of a method linking script files withmoving picture data in accordance with the present invention. In theembodiment of FIG. 8, every script file has filename including anaddress of a VOBU to be presented along with the script file. Forexample, if it is supposed that a script file is to be presented withthe fifth VOBU ‘VOBU #5’ of which start address is ‘10000’, the scriptfile includes a string of ‘10000.sc’ in its filename where the ‘sc’,means script file. In other words, a start address of a VOBU to bepresented with additional information included in a script file must beused as a filename (extension excluded) of the script file, as shown inFIG. 8.

Therefore, a DVD player reads all script files written in the SFZ of aDVD and knows each start address of a VOBU to be presented with a scriptfile based on each filename before starting reproduction. Afterwards, ifthere is a filename matched with an address of a VOBU being presentednow, the DVD player reads data in a script file having the matchedfilename and decodes out them. Through these operations, a viewer canview additional information related with the presented moving picturesat the same time while watching the moving pictures.

Entire script files may be retrieved from a DVD and then stored in amemory at an initial disk loading process when a DVD is placed.Otherwise, linked script files are retrieved from a DVD and then decodedsequentially when a viewer activates script display mode. If a memoryhas enough storage capacity, a user's script display request may beresponded to after storing all script files in the memory.

An arbitrary section of moving picture data, namely several VOBUs mayhave no additional information although the moving picture data may haveadditional information overall. For such a section, a script file ofwhich filename includes a start address of the section is still created,however, the script file has only null data. FIG. 9 shows this methodschematically.

In the example of FIG. 9 illustrating a case that an arbitrary sectionof moving picture data is not supplied with additional information, asection from the L-th VOBU ‘VOBU #L’ to the (m−1)-th ‘VOBU #m−1’ has noadditional information, so that a script file of which filename is‘30000’, same with the address of the L-th VOBU, has null data of fixedsize.

Therefore, when the L-th VOBU is encountered while reproducing themoving picture data, the DVD player reads contents written in the scriptfile ‘30000.sc’ and it deletes previously-outputted contents of thescript file ‘21000.sc’ in a viewing screen because the contents of thefile ‘30000.sc’ are all null. As a result, while a section of movingpicture data not supplied with additional information is beingreproduced, previous additional information not related with currentsection disappears in a screen.

Instead of writing null data in a script file, a special code, e.g., ‘-’is added to the filename of a script file to indicate that a linkedsection has no additional information. For example, in the example ofFIG. 9, the script file of which filename is same with the address ofthe L-th VOBU ‘VOBU #L’ is named to ‘-30000.sc’. Therefore, if a scriptfile of which filename includes the code ‘-’ is linked with currentVOBU, a previously-presented script file is removed in a screenimmediately without reading data in the script file.

An embodiment of method and apparatus of reproducing a recording mediumincluding script files linked with moving picture data as explainedabove is now described in detail.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of an apparatus reproducing a recordingmedium including script files as well as moving picture data inaccordance with the present invention. The reproducing apparatus of FIG.10 comprises an optical pickup 11 detecting signals recorded on a DVD 10on which script files are also written; a reproduction processing unit12 processing the detected signals by the pickup 11 to restore them tovideo, audio, and/or text data; a spindle motor 17 rotating the DVD 10;a sled motor 16 moving the pickup 11 inward and outward on the DVD 10; aservo unit 15 conducting servo operations for the spindle motor 17, thesled motor 16, and an objective lens of the pickup 11; a controllingunit 13 controlling all elements to reproduce the DVD 10; and a memory14 for temporarily storing data produced while reproducing the DVD 10and script files.

The reproduction processing unit 12 may be composed of a digital signalprocessor (DSP) 12 a restoring the detected RF signals to digital dataafter converting the RF signals to binary signals, a decoder 12 bdecoding compressed digital data restored by the digital signalprocessor 12 a, and the like. The controlling unit 13 may be composed ofa file system 13 a searching for and reading a link data file or ascript file stored in the memory 14 or recorded on the DVD 10, amicroprocessor 13 b controlling reproduction of recorded data and scriptfiles in connection with the file system 13 a, and so on. A reproductionoperation, conducted under the control of the controlling unit 13, ofboth moving picture data and related additional information in scriptfiles is performed as follows.

FIG. 11 is a flow chart of an embodiment of a method reproducing arecording medium including script files as well as moving picture datain accordance with the present invention.

The procedures depicted in FIG. 11 are on the assumption that the DVD 10includes a link data file in the SFZ as the embodiments of FIGS. 7 and8. When the DVD 10 is placed exactly (S10), the controlling unit 13reads navigation data for controlling reproduction of the DVD 10 fromthe NDZ and stores them in the memory 14, first (S11). There are theVMGI and the VTSI containing PGCI in the navigation data stored in thememory 14.

Because there may be several program chains on the DVD 10, thecontrolling unit 13 waits until a program chain is chosen to bereproduced by a user. If a program chain is selected, the controllingunit 13 checks 1-bit ‘Script Flag’ allocated in the PGC Content field‘PGC_CNT’ written in PGCI associated with the chosen program chain(S12). If the value of ‘Script Flag’ is 0, the controlling unit 13 knowsthat there is no additional information associated with the chosenprogram chain, and conducts a general DVD reproducing operation (S13).

If the values of ‘Script Flag’ is 1, the controlling unit 13 considersthat there is at least one stored script file, linked with the selectedprogram chain, in the SFZ of the DVD 10, and it searches the SFZ of theDVD 10 for a link data file having filename associated with the PGCI ofthe chosen program chain. If found, the controlling unit 13 determinesthat the chosen program chain has linked script files, otherwise, itdetermines that the chosen program chain does not.

If it is determined that there is additional information related withthe program chain, the controlling unit 13 reads out the found data linkfile from the SFZ (S14) and stores it in the memory 14. Specially, ifstorage of the memory 14 is large enough to store many script files, thecontrolling unit 13 analyzes all link entries of the stored link datafile, reads every script file identified by address or filename writtenin each link entry, and stores the read script files in the memory 14,before starting to reproduce moving picture data belonging to the chosenprogram chain (S15).

Afterwards, the controlling unit 13 conducts reproducing operation ofthe selected program chain (S16). If current reproducing mode is scriptdisplay one or if script display mode is requested from a user duringreproduction of moving picture data (S17), the controlling unit 13receives an address of a VOBU being reproduced now from the reproductionprocessing unit 12 or knows the address from the already-stored VTSI inthe memory 14 (S18), and it searches the link data file stored in thememory 14 for a link entry of which VOBU address member is equal to thereceived or known address (S19) If the link entry is not found, thecontrolling unit 13 searches for a link entry of which VOBU addressmember is closest to and smaller than the received or known address(S19). If a link entry is found from the former or the latter searchoperation, the controlling unit 13 identifies a recording address or afilename of a script file from the other member, delimited by ‘/’, ofthe found link entry, and searches the DVD 10 or the memory 14 for ascript file identified by the address or filename through the filesystem 13 a (S20).

If an associated script file is found, its contents are transmitted tothe reproduction processing unit 12 which decodes the received contentsin accordance with compressing way of the contents, if compressed, andoutputs them along with video and audio data decoded from reproducedmoving picture data (S21). Owing to this dual decoding and outputtingoperation, a scene by moving picture data and scene descriptive text bya script file are displayed together in a single screen as shown in FIG.12.

In the meantime, if the found script file contains null data or has aspecial code such as ‘-’ indicative of no linked additional informationin its filename as explained referring to FIG. 9, the controlling unit13 supplies the reproduction processing unit 12 with a signal indicativeof no information to command the reproduction processing unit 12 toblank a present script window. Consequently, continuous display ofprevious script file is prevented.

FIG. 13 is a flow chart of another embodiment of a method reproducing arecording medium including script files as well as moving picture datain accordance with the present invention.

The procedures depicted in FIG. 13 are on the assumption that the DVD 10includes no link data file as the embodiment of FIG. 9.

The procedures of the embodiment of FIG. 13 are totally same with thoseof FIG. 11 except the following distinctive steps. In the embodiment ofFIG. 13, if it is determined that a selected program chain hasadditional information (S32), the address range of the selected programchain composed of at least one VOB is detected first and script filesnamed with address belonging to the detected address range are all readfrom the SFZ of the DVD 10 into the memory 14 (S34).

Afterwards, if in script display mode, the controlling unit 13 receivesan address of a VOBU being currently reproduced from the reproductionprocessing unit 12 or knows the address from the already-stored VTSI inthe memory 14 (S38), and it searches the memory 14 for a script filenamed with the received or known address or with an address closest toand smaller than the received or known address (S39). If found, thecontrolling unit 13 transmits contents of the found script file to thereproduction processing unit 12 to be presented with reproduced movingpictures in a screen.

If the found script file contains only null data or has a special codeindicative of no linked additional information in its filename, thecontrolling unit 13 supplies the reproduction processing unit 12 with asignal indicative of no information to blank a present script window asthe former embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 12, the moving pictures and its related additionalinformation, referred to as metadata, may be displayed together througha conventional Web browser used for surfing Internet. In case of usingWeb browser, the script window for additional information can bescrolled to a previous or a next scene descriptive information bycommands or clicks from a viewer. In addition, the descriptive datawritten in a script file may be made out in the form of hyper-text inorder that a viewer might obtain with ease more detailed informationrelated with a part of text, e.g., a word or a phrase by simply clickingit.

The above-explained method of linking additional information with eachsection of moving picture data and method and apparatus of reproducing arecording medium including the additional information as well as movingpicture data make it possible for a viewer to obtain with easeadditional and/or detailed information related to moving picture datareproduced from a recording medium such as a DVD.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that variousmodifications and variations can be made in the present inventionwithout departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Thus, it isintended that the present invention cover the modifications andvariations of this invention.

1. A method of reproducing audiovisual data with additional data, themethod comprising: retrieving management information associated with theaudiovisual data, the management information including link information,an indicator, and reference information; identifying whether or not aset of additional data associated with the audiovisual data exists in astream including at least a portion of the management information usingthe indicator, the additional data describing the audiovisual data,wherein the indicator includes one of a first indicator value indicatingthat the set of the additional data associated with the audiovisual dataexists in the stream and a second indicator value indicating that theset of the additional data associated with the audiovisual data does notexist in the stream; retrieving the audiovisual data and the set of theadditional data using the link information referencing the set of theadditional data and the reference information being assigned to theaudiovisual data; and reproducing the audiovisual data and theassociated additional data.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein theindicator is a flag.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the additionaldata describes the audiovisual data using a predefined formattedlanguage.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising associating theretrieved audiovisual data with the retrieved set of additional datausing the management information.
 5. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising associating the retrieved audiovisual data with the retrievedset of additional data using the link information and the referenceinformation.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein plural sets of additionaldata are capable of being associated with a single audiovisual data. 7.An apparatus for reproducing audiovisual data with additional data, theapparatus comprising: a controller configured to, retrieve managementinformation associated with the audiovisual data, the managementinformation including link information, an indicator, and referenceinformation, identify whether or not a set of additional data associatedwith the audiovisual data exists in a stream including at least aportion of the management information using the indicator, theadditional data describing the audiovisual data, retrieve theaudiovisual data and the set of the additional data using the linkinformation referencing the set of the additional data and the referenceinformation being assigned to the audiovisual data, and reproduce theaudiovisual data and the associated additional data, wherein theindicator includes one of a first indicator value indicating that theset of the additional data associated with the audiovisual data existsin the stream and a second indicator value indicating that the set ofthe additional data associated with the audiovisual data does not existin the stream.
 8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the indicator is aflag.
 9. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the additional data describesthe audiovisual data using a predefined formatted language.
 10. Theapparatus of claim 7, wherein the controller is configured to associatethe retrieved audiovisual data with the retrieved set of additional datausing the management information.
 11. The apparatus of claim 7, whereinthe controller is configured to associate the retrieved audiovisual datawith the retrieved set of additional data using the link information andthe reference information.
 12. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein pluralsets of additional data are capable of being associated with a singleaudiovisual data.